Mass Effect: The Unsung Hero
by Tayag501
Summary: This story takes place during the First Contact War of the Mass Effect universe and mainly follows the story of Dante Santos. Dante is a marine in an experimental program called the Marine Commandos, a program designed to take a large group of highly trained Marines behind enemy lines and destroy them.
1. Introduction

**Introduction**

The year is 2156 C.E and humanity's level of technology has been jumped centuries ahead thanks to the discovery of the Charon Mass Relay back in 2149 C.E on Pluto's orbit. Mass relays have the ability to manipulate on what are known as mass effect fields, which allows faster than light travel, and shoots ships to other connected relays in faster than light speeds. Seeing the potential in this humanity quickly set to the stars and explored the deep and dark realm known as space. After two years of exploration humanity was able to colonize onto two planets and have permanent settlements there but it quickly realized that it needed to defend its ever expanding territory, so in 2151 C.E the Systems Alliance, United Earth Government, began building a military fleet and a space station, which would later be named "Arcturus Station," to serve as our defense against the unknown. And that's on where the main protagonist of this story will take his role, eager to serve and eager to see the galaxy this story will mainly follow the experiences of Dante Santos. Dante is an aspiring Marine coming from a rough background which not too different from some of his compatriots but what sets him apart from them is his ability to quickly react to any given situation. Thanks to his ability it landed him a recommendation to try out for a new special ops program, Marine Commandos, the program is meant for Marines who has on what it takes to complete a mission when the odds are simply not in their favor. Dante will go through this harsh program and he will find out if it will be enough to prepare him for the unknown of space.


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

As I sit inside this windowless transport waiting for it to take flight and leave Sydney, Australia I can't help but get a feeling of excitement as the thought of going into space occupies my mind. I've always dreamt of going into space ever since I was young but every time somebody asked me on why, I would never give them a truthful answer. To be honest the reason I wanted to go to space was so I can escape the hell hole that I grew up in, I lost my family long ago and the conditions were just unbearable. Trying not to depress myself with my past I looked around and saw my future classmates, the cabin was filled with a wide arrange of people varying of both races and sizes and unlike basic where everything was segregated by gender the cabin was not so it surprised me when I saw women sitting with the men. Some of the women looked like they were body builders and had about the same muscle definition as some of the men which kind of scared me; I've never seen women that fit so it was kind of an uncomfortable sight to see. On the other hand there were women who looked more appealing to me and were impressed on how women such as them made it, as beautiful as they were some looked like they could barely do a single push up let alone hold a rifle steady as it fired and that's not on what this program was looking for. When I was done looking around I face forward again to relax but as soon as I placed my head against the neck rest a woman ,panting, came along and was holding a small duffle bag, she took a minute to catch her breath before she started to talk.

"Um excuse me but is this seat taken?" She says in a thick English accent.

I looked at her with a confused expression on my face then said that her ticket tells her on where she sat. She immediately into her bag to take her ticket out and checked, once she found out that the seat number and the ticket matched she began to put her stuff away in the cabinet above then proceeded to sit down and fastened her seatbelt tighter than she needed to.

"Miss… um… you don't have to fasten your seatbelt that tightly we're not taking off yet." I didn't even need to look to know that the seatbelt was more than tight on her; she could barely even breathe normally.

"No… it's… alright… I'm… ouch." I was a bit confused on why she said "ouch" until I look at her chest and found it being constricted. Trying to make it more comfortable for her I loosened up the straps going through the buckle, unfortunately from her prospective it must've looked like I was about to sexually assault her and she proceeded to give me one good punch to my left cheek and I was pushed away from her quickly but not before I got the straps loose enough for her to breathe properly.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING YO-" She was screaming loud enough for everyone to hear but stopped when she realized on what I've done and began to try apologizing. I told her it was nothing and admitted that it was a bit of my fault to which she quickly denied my claim and said it was all her fault then she proceeded to go out of her way to get me an ice pack for the small bruise on my face. Once she came back I said thank you and we didn't speak for 5 minutes then she turned towards me and broke the silence.

"Hey I never really got your name now, did I?"

"I'm Dante, Dante Santos nice to meet you." I extend my arm for a shake.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Dante; I'm Heather, Heather Berkley. If you don't mind me asking, your name, doesn't sound like you're from around here, you American?"

"No, I'm Filipino."

"Really? But your English is superb and you don't have any accent?"

"Well I learned English from a young age so it could benefit me in the future."

"Well did it pay off?"

"I'm here aren't I?" We both laugh from my response for a moment.

"So you always wanted to be a Marine Commando?"

"No…"

"Then how did it benefit you?"

"I'd rather not talk about it… How about I ask the questions now?" She gets all excited and adjusted herself to a more comfortable position. "Are you from here?"

"Nope, I'm from London, England."

"How old are you?"

"You never ask a girl that. These questions are boring I want to learn more about you." I really didn't want to talk about my past to her, a person I just met, so I said on whatever was the first thing I could've thought of.

"Why were you panting when I first saw you and why did you buckle yourself so tightly?" She blushes before she answers.

"Well I was running late and to be honest I have a…um… a slight fear of flying." I was a bit confused on her answer and I asked her on how she managed during her flight from London to Sydney and she tells me that the situation was exactly the same except for the fact that no one helped her over there like I did. I felt a bit proud then asked her on why she wanted to become a Marine Commando? She then proceeded to chuckle and say I wouldn't tell her mine so she wouldn't tell me hers. Feeling bested I said touché and we both wait for the transport to lift off. 10 minutes later the doors were all closed and the stewards went on with their standard routine after finishing the pilots initiated the engines and the four massive engines located in the back of the transport began to roar, but we haven't taken off yet, _probably checking the engines_ I thought to myself. I look to my left to see on how Heather was doing and she was grasping on the arm rest as if her life depended on it, her scared state kind of amused me and I let out a small chuckle.

"Are you alright Heather?" I ask.

"I'm just peachy!" She tries to form a weak smile but was quickly broken when the engines were trying to adjust itself for vertical take-off, I enjoyed hearing the noise it made when it was adjusting itself but too bad I couldn't say the same for Heather, the engines began to get louder and soon enough we took off. As we were gaining altitude I could hear the engines adjusting themselves once again this time for horizontal flight and I was about to adjust myself to a more comfortable position before Heather poked me on the arm "This may seem weird but would it be alright if I could hold your hand?" I didn't ask her on why she wanted to but I just gave her a nod for my approval then allowed her to grab my hand. Her grip was tight and as we were gaining speed so was the strength of her grip, I tell her to calm down and breathe normally and she says she'll try, the engines had made their final adjustments and the transport speeds up in almost an instant to the necessary speed required to escape Earth's atmosphere. Normally humans wouldn't be able to handle the amount of forces experienced on their bodies but thanks to the discovery of the Mass Effect Fields the force that was exerted on us was just merely 1G. As we were accelerating Heather's grip was getting stronger, to calm her down I squeeze softly back she responds by releasing her grip enough to match mine. I guess I must've calmed her down because for the rest of the flight she didn't tighten her grip at all. The transport eventually escaped Earth's orbit and had decelerated I looked at her and told her it's done and she released my hand "Thanks and please don't tell anybody."

"You're welcome and don't worry your secret is safe with me."

"Thanks you're the best… Dante do you have a younger sibling with a similar problem as me or something? Because the way you held my hand to calm me down was the same way my mother would to calm me down during out travels."

"No I'm- I was an only child."

"Was?"

"Well it's gonna be a long flight so I'm gonna catch some Z's ok?" I turn my head away from her and close my eyes.

"Oh come on that is so unfair! Come on spill it!" She hits me a couple of times before she gives up and I fall asleep for the entire flight.

The next time I awoke our transport had arrived to its destination and everyone was getting off, Heather had waited for me to get up and even brought my bags down for me. I asked her on why she didn't go on ahead with the others and she just responded wittingly "No man left behind." I laugh from her response then got up and stretched a bit before grabbing my bag and working my way out of the transport with Heather right behind me. When we finally got out of the transport and onto the terminal we were surprised to find the place almost filled with my future classmates all wearing our identical navy fatigues, it was like a sea of recruits. I was starting to feel claustrophobic until more doors were opened, so we could leave faster, and I was able to have breathing room again. On the other side we were all being instructed to follow the signs and tape by some soldier who was wearing the same fatigue as us but his camo color was of an olive drab green and not blue. It made me wonder a bit on why that was the case but being constantly shove forward by the people behind me gave me no time to think and I just dropped it and kept following the tape. After passing on what I believed was the civilian side of the spaceport we made our way underground where we spent around 10 minutes of walking in a tunnel until we reached on what looked like to be a vehicle terminal. I looked around and couldn't help but be amazed on the Mako's that were stationed there and wondered if they will be transporting us. A soldier dressed like the other one back in the terminal stepped out and walked towards the middle of the room then stood in to attention.

"ROOM. ATTENTION!" Everyone snapped into attention quickly then waited for the soldier to speak again. "I AM CHIEF WARRANT OFFICER FORD AND I WILL BE HERE TO DIRECT YOU ALL INTO YOUR MAKO'S" The man wasn't even using a microphone and he was still able to project his voice all across the room for everyone to hear, I was impressed. "NOW LISTEN UP RECRUITS ON THE COMMAND OF FALL OUT I WANT A TWO, I SAY AGAIN TWO SQUAD FORMATION STARTING IN FRONT OF ME. FALL OUT!" The whole room falls out like clockwork and we all immediately form a two squad formation, Heather going as quick as she could maneuvers her way around the others to where she would be right in front of me. The Chief Warrant Officer then began to separate us in groups of twelve and afterwards directed that group to which Mako they would go in. I wait for another 35 minutes before my group was selected then was directed by the officer to our designated Mako. We all had gotten inside and once everyone had secured a seat the doors were shut and we all started to talk, while the others were talking about being excited for this program Heather and I were making jokes on how easy it was for her to not be with me since she was the front of my line. The Mako was still for about another half hour before starting its engines, by that time I had ran out of things to talk about with Heather and we both just stayed quiet for the time being. The terminal began to get pressurized with the outside then once it was done the doors had opened and the Makos inside all began to move in order forming a two column vehicle formation. I didn't converse with anyone else inside and soon enough I fell asleep on our way there. Unlike the flight here the Mako ride was less then pleasant, the apc would bounce up and down every time it hit a small crater or rock and the engines were much louder than it was in the space ship. But somehow I managed to get some sleep and the next time I woke up we had arrived, I looked to my left and found Heather still fast asleep and was resting her head on my shoulder. Some of the guys saw this and they all started to "Woo!" at me or were calling me names, I couldn't help on how they were acting so I woke her up. She must've been aware on what was happening because when she woke up she said.

"Are we at your apartment yet sweet heart?" Her witty comment gets everyone to burst into a good laugh, including me, then we all made our way out to find some people already in the same formation as in the vehicle terminal and we quickly followed suit and fell in. Two drill sergeants, one male and the other female, then marched out to the middle of the formation once we were all ready and the two segregated the formation by gender then once finished the two drill sergeants lead their formation to their respected rooms. Heather didn't seem all too happy to be separated and before we had left the room she would turn her head towards me whenever she could and she would just look at me as much as she could before I was out of her visual range. We marched around the complex for another 20 minutes before we had finally reached our quarters; I was personally amazed on the length of these tunnels it seemed like they could run on forever. The drill sergeant then fell us out and we were allowed to have the rest of the night to unpack our things and to get settled down because to them tonight's is our last night of comfort. The drill sergeant then said that military regulations are still in effect so we shouldn't try anything stupid after that he just walked out and everyone was left to unpack their things then rested.


End file.
